mobile expense management - visibility for the enterprise and the user

As BYOD grows and there are more devices in

the enterprise, there will be more apps on those

devices. Heavy data usage and correlating wireless

data expenses grows as well and companies need

visibility to manage mobile expenses. Navigating

the carrier landscape and negotiating contracts are

just one piece of controlling costs. This Thought

Leadership paper will discuss best practices to help

companies monitor, control and reduce wireless

data expenditures.

THOugHT LeADersHip series | OCTOBer 2012

OCTOBer 2012

iNsiDe:Consider the App p2

Leveraging Carrier Contracts p3

Real-Time Measuring Tools p4

Visibility: Spend, Device, User p5

Too Much Texting p6

Integrated Services p7

MEM Now p7

spONsOreD BY

Mobile expense Management: Visibility for the enterprise and the user

By Kassandra Kania

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Mobile data consumption is at an all-time high and enterprises are saddled with controlling the rising costs associated with this trend. The proliferation of mobile devices and mobile apps — whether they are employee-facing apps or business to consumer — is driving the wireless data feeding frenzy. And as companies hop on the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) bandwagon and tablets continue to infiltrate the business, the appetite for bandwidth is only increasing.

Apps such as videoconferencing, text messaging, and even access to high-resolution images, such as X-rays in the medical field, are becoming an integral part of everyday business — but at a price.

“Wireless spectrum is like beachfront property,” says Randall Light, CEO of Ovation Wireless Management. “There’s only so much of it, and the demand is only going to increase.” As the mobile computing explosion continues and the user experience improves, data usage will naturally increase, along with carrier costs, he says.

Enterprises are starting to heed the warnings of unexpected fluctuations in their monthly wireless bills, and many already have cost-control measures in place. According to Chris Marsh, principal analyst for The Yankee Group, telecom expense management is one of the more highly adopted solutions among companies for managing invoices and inventory as well as optimizing rate plans.

And as mobile devices become more sophisticated and widespread, and the landscape shifts from a consumer application market to an enterprise application market, companies are also facing the challenges of securing devices, data and apps. “Data costs become highly relevant as mobile apps become more widespread because you go beyond people making calls on their devices to transacting business,” Marsh says.

Consider the AppBut managing wireless data expenses should begin well before the app is even launched. App design can have a huge impact on wireless data costs down the road, according to Todd Oberg, director of wireless and logistics for Runzheimer International. So what can companies do upfront during the development phase to ensure that wireless data costs don’t spiral out of control?

“When it comes to mobile apps, that design needs to be thought through thoroughly,” says Oberg. “Everything from do you develop a native app and do you leverage the browser, to how much data do you want to exchange—otherwise it can come back as a significant expense for any organization.”

Having well defined business objectives will help companies determine the amount of data transmission that application will generate. “As they develop new apps, organizations need to be thinking about how they can throttle and better manage data transmission so that they aren’t hitting limits on their data plans,” says Heidi Skatrud, vice president of product management, Runzheimer International. “Apps have to be really smart about how they’re passing information back and forth. Things like frequency of pings of transmission or uploads can have an impact on the amount of data transmission. So how that app is designed and what kind of flexibility has been built in to make sure the data consumption is reasonable is something that more than ever organizations need to be mindful of.”

Me THOugHT LeADersHip series | Mobile expense Management: Visibility for the enterprise and the user

MOBILE ENTERPRISE OCTOBER 2012 | Mobile expense Management | p2

T A K E A W A Y

“Wireless spectrum is like beachfront property: There’s only so much of it, and the demand is only going to increase.”

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In addition to knowing their apps and how much data those apps are expected to transmit, enterprises need to know their users and their usage habits to identify areas of concern that could potentially lead to data overages. “How the user is synching up is important—not just with the application itself, but how frequently they are pinging company email, for example,” says Skatrud. “Those basic settings on the mobile devices are so important to the amount of kilobytes of transmission that are occurring. Also, if the user is in a location where cellular coverage or data transmission is poor, the device is going to have to work harder, and that can drive up the kilobyte cost as well. So it’s really important for organizations to be looking at their geographic footprint and the quality of carrier coverage in those areas.”

Understanding the app being deployed as well as the estimated traffic requirement from the carriers will help enterprises assess whether their data usage is low, medium or high. However, a more precise indicator of this usage will be available once the application is in full production.

“Even with some of the best planning, there could be unforeseen changes that need to be tweaked about the app,” noted Light. Refining and adjusting the application post-deployment may reduce data consumption and, in turn, the costs associated with it.

The hidden costs of data connections when it comes to apps are only part of the equation says Ted Gauld, VP of Product Management, Adapx, “Teams can face much higher opportunity costs, for example, when the reliance is on online-only browser-based apps. When they are out of the range of networks — whether in the field, on a plane, or deep inside a building — workers may not be able to get any work done.”

To deal with the expense of both excessive data use and lack of network access, Gauld says, it’s important that mobile apps be able to run offline — either when the network isn’t physically available or when the network is cost prohibitive. He points out, “Data can be collected while offline — and then when the user gets back into network range, they can simply transfer data then using the most cost-effective network.”

Leveraging Carrier ContractsCarrier contracts need to be considered early in the planning stages. “Every carrier is going to jockey for you to use them and only them,” says Tony Horling, director field mobility solutions, Strategic Mobility Group, “so that conversation needs to start up front.”

Enterprises need to understand their carrier relationship as this is an area where the landscape is changing rapidly. Horling advises clients to negotiate with the carriers and avoid locking themselves into multiyear contracts. “A lot of products we provide allow the user to be on AT&T today, Sprint tomorrow and TMobile next week,” he says. “You’re no longer buying devices that work on one carrier. You’re buying devices that work on any carrier, so use that as a leveraging point so the carriers don’t lock you into a three-year commitment.”



T A K E A W A Y

When launching applications, intimate knowledge of app design and usage habits pre-deployment can help the company stay within plan limits.

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pooling MinutesOrganizations are also benefiting from pooling minutes — the process of purchasing buckets of minutes that can be shared across all corporate users, resulting in a reduced net cost per minute.

“Pooling is very effective,” says Horling. “The company as a whole uses the pool, so you as a manager only manage the pool, and you can see who’s using the most data and who’s using the least. A pool is much easier to manage than a person, especially in a larger organization. How do you monitor thousands of users? It’s impossible. And how do you monitor multiple carriers with thousands of users? That’s also impossible. So you start pooling and it allows you to have more flexibility and visibility. Plus you can avoid buying the all-you-can-eat data package.”

Most corporations use pooling as an effective way to leverage spend and reduce costs for voice plans. However, in pooled environments that are not closely monitored, over-spending is a big issue. “You’re going to increasingly see carriers allow data plan pooling,” says Skatrud. “If organizations are going to do this, they need to make sure they have the right tools in place to monitor usage and ensure users are on the right plans and that those plans are as cost effective as possible.”

real-Time Measuring ToolsAs with pooling, enterprises are well advised to monitor all aspects of their wireless data plans using real-time measurement tools to optimize rate plans and avoid unpleasant surprises on their monthly wireless bills.

“Clients need to understand that as carriers continue to reposition their data plans and offerings, there’s a need to measure data usage frequently and have a mechanism in place to perform this analysis regularly,” says Light. “Without measuring it, you can’t manage it.”

Such was the case for San Jamar Chef Revival, a supplier of food service products located in Elkhorn, WI, with divisions in Europe, Canada and Mexico. San Jamar’s mobile workforce is made up of primarily sales and marketing executives and some support services. Following its recent acquisition, the company is in the process of switching from business issued BlackBerry devices to a BYOD methodology.

“We recognized that our mobile spend was increasing, and we were doing a lot of administrative work,” says Tim Demco, vice president of corporate sales for San Jamar Chef Revival. “When it was left unmanaged, we saw costs increasing at a rate that I wasn’t comfortable with, so we enlisted Runzheimer services for account management.”

International pooled minute management, bill reconciliation and the cost to maintain and administrate carrier plans were the three main areas contributing to the company’s soaring wireless data costs. “I’d rather my guys were focusing on moving the organization forward as opposed to focusing on mobile billing and management,” Demco says.

Prior to implementing a solution, international employees were the main culprits when it came to exceeding their usage limits for voice, data, and text messaging. Now, the company is able to turn international services on and off as needed, thereby reducing expenses significantly. “We learned through that we had more flexibility than we realized to turn devices on and off,” says Demco.



T A K E A W A Y

Avoid all-you-can-eat data packages. Pooling minutes is popular among enterprises that need greater flexibility and improved visibility.

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spend VisibilityIn addition to having greater flexibility, Demco now has greater visibility into how and where dollars are being spent. “Before, mobile device services were all rolled into one corporate expense and then allocated back to each department,” explains Demco. “Now, we’re able to allocate direct expenses to each department, so the international department is getting billed direct expense. As a result, they now have greater visibility into their mobile device spend, and they manage it much more tightly because it’s hitting their piano rather than being a generic spread across every department.”

Managed mobile expenses has increased visibility into every facet of the company’s wireless spend, thereby helping San Jamar realize a 25 to 30% cost savings in its wireless bill, as well as reducing the overhead of managing carrier relationships.

“We can now add new services with confidence, such as air cards and iPads,” says Demco. “We’re able to empower our sales force and other mobile workers to use those devices to do their jobs more efficiently. Meanwhile I’m confident our spend is going to be in control. And I’m also not worried about having multiple carriers. It gives me the flexibility to use Verizon and AT&T or whoever we can leverage to set up our most optimal plan.”

Device VisibilityBetter visibility as a result of managed mobile expenses has also enabled the company to save money on its device replacement strategy. As Yankee Group’s Chris Marsh points out, enterprises — particularly those with thousands of mobile workers — often lose sight of what devices its mobile workforce is using.

“One of the horror stories you hear is companies have 10,000 devices registered and half of those are redundant because those people left the company and those devices weren’t deactivated,” he says. “A lot of companies don’t realize what they’re paying for, but that’s changing as managed mobile solutions allow them greater visibility over what they’re paying, allowing them to optimize their rates.”

user VisibilityBut visibility into a company’s wireless expenditure needs to extend beyond those responsible for paying the bills. Often, enterprises overlook the importance of sharing information with managers and the mobile workers themselves when it comes to cost containment measures.

“Another way enterprises can help with cost control is to provide consumption information to end users and managers,” says Randall. “That’s going to be critical — to let people actually see what they’re consuming. If they don’t get that visibility, there’s no sense of ownership. They’re just using a service and think there’s no cost to it. Providing them reporting and information based on actual consumption and cost will be something that gets a sense of community and financial responsibility going.”

Gauld agrees. Tablets, for example, come with cellular and/or Wi-Fi connections. “It seems straightforward but there can be hidden costs that may create extra expenses. For example, teams often are hit with large fees or data slowdowns when using cellular if they are not aware



T A K E A W A Y

Mobile expense management (MEM) tools can help enterprises optimize and customize rate plans.

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of managing data limits. When teams are roaming internationally, it can get even more expensive.”Enterprises also need to have a wireless policy in place and ensure that the policy is enforced.

“Surprisingly few companies have basic policies outlining their expectations regarding usage,” says Marsh. “There need to be clear policies around what employees can and can’t do. For instance, if you’re paying employees’ bills, you have to make sure that they don’t use their work phones while on vacation.”

For companies that don’t already have a wireless policy in force, Light recommends introducing one before launching any new apps. “It’s a good idea overall, and in advance of launching apps, to have a strong wireless policy in place outlining controls, their intended use of custom apps and how to use that in a best practice mode,” he says. “You may be providing devices for mobile workers who haven’t had one in the past and there may be changes to the way they can use this device. Therefore user education and sharing information via the policy is extremely important to make sure that everyone is on board.”

Too Much TextingWhen it comes to SMS text messaging — an app that mobile workers tend to overuse —enterprises can benefit from educating their workforce and outlining usage guidelines around this as well in their wireless policies. Left unmanaged, costs associated with frequent texting can lead to exorbitant increases in monthly wireless bills.

“By using a real time optimization (RTO) tool to keep an eye on these areas real-time, mid-cycle, companies can avoid expense shock at the end of the cycle when it is too late to make changes, and attempt to avert runaway expenses,” notes Light.

Prior to implementing expense management tools, San Jamar Chef Revival fell victim to its mobile workforce over-texting, particularly among its international employees. “Prior to the MEM solution, we didn’t offer texting to all our users,” says Demco. “Text messaging and the number of texts sent were limited but unmanaged. We had people that would overuse texting based on what the plan was and it would drive up our costs. Dollars were walking out the door.” Once the company started monitoring SMS, it was able to incorporate texting into its overall corporate plan and offer it to all users rather than a select few for the same dollars spent.

Demco says the company has seen cost per device decrease significantly. “Year over year, we’ve realized a 30% reduction in costs per device for both domestic and international users,” he says. “I look at my annual spend, and I know my costs are being contained because I don’t see my dollars going up, and I have more devices than I’ve even had before.”

For companies that need to limit texting at the device level, additional solution functionality may be necessary. Some MEM companies also offer mobile device management (MDM) services that can place limits on the device itself. “If you put device management on devices, you can understand what type of text messages are being sent and how much they’re sending,” says Horling. “You can limit the device and assign who that person communicates with. The device management software we use, for example, can limit text messaging to office communications and remove the ability for drivers to text other drivers.”



T A K E A W A Y

A wireless policy detailing usage requirements and expectations is a must to avoid costly data overages..

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integrated servicesTEM and MEM vendors are now partnering with MDM companies to provide integration through their admin consoles to MDM features, such as locking down a smartphone if it exceeds data usage thresholds. While such actions may seem radical to some enterprises, others desire the piece of mind that they offer, particularly as more and more corporations move toward a BYOD policy.

“MDM isn’t really a cost control solution,” notes Marsh. “It’s a way to secure a device. But a lot of these solutions are integrating, so you’ll get a vendor that offers you mobile device management and telecom expense management capabilities, and maybe even application management. Companies with big mobile deployments should consider an integrated solution. Ultimately, that will benefit them in terms of economies of scale.”

While MEM monitors usage, MDM sets limits on employees whose use--or abuse--of their mobile device may be contributing to an increase in the company’s wireless data costs. Horling says, “It gives the company — the owner of the device — the ability to set the parameters of usage so the user can’t surf the Web or access YouTube, for instance. What tends to happen is employees have Web connectivity on their work device, so that leads them to try to do more than what the company assigned them to do on the device. And every time you send or receive data on that device, you’re paying for it.”

By limiting the apps installed and accessed on a device, says Light, MDM can help an organization reduce wireless data costs by doing the following: • Minimizingtheuseofappsthatconsumelargeamountsofdata • LimitingbrowsingbyforcingtrafficbackthroughaproxyURLfilteringtool • Lockingorwipinglostorstolendevicestopreventrapidrogueusebysomeonewhofoundit • Detectingjailbrokenandrooteddevicestobelockeddown.Thesedevicescanbemodified in many different ways to access services and use data outside of the original controls • Detectingdataroamingtopreventcostly“pushes”ofupdates,documents,files,orother communications that can be expensive outside of the home network • ControllingappsthatcanbeTrojanHorses,allowingdangerousgroupstoaccessanetwork or system

But MDM isn’t just about setting limits. It can also serve as a tool to communicate employee’s data needs to management. “If you’re exceeding a certain volume or you’re approaching your data plan limit, MDM can make sure there’s action taken to adjust and/or put that person on a higher data plan, or do something that will avoid over-charges,” explains Skatrud.

The role of BYODThere’s no denying that one of the key drivers for implementing and integrating MEM solutions is the popularity of BYOD. “BYOD is contributing to rising costs,” says Marsh. “About 39% of the total workforce in the U.S. is mobile. That’s about 60 million mobile workers, and about 60% of those are using their own device for business purposes.”

As more employees use their mobile devices for work purposes, the company’s cost management perspective changes. Some are adopting a middle-road ownership model whereby the company gives employees a stipend to buy their device and the employee is then responsible for paying their bill. Others do not contribute to the device purchase but rather pay a portion of the employee’s monthly bill; while still others, contribute to the device purchase as well as the monthly expenses.

T A K E A W A Y

Excessive texting may call for management at the device level using an MDM solution to disable an employee’s phone to avoid exceeding usage limits.

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For those considering a BYOD policy, Light recommends that the enterprise retain ownership and liability for the carrier service to ensure data security controls are in place, usage is fully monitored and the company has access to cost and usage records. “In some individual-liable models, the expense management element can be challenging as individual users’ costs rise and requests are made for more reimbursement,” he says. “Users can also cross reimbursement tiers; for example, they were once a low data user and now, due to business reasons, they are a higher user. This impacts the cost to manage the program internally.”

When introducing BYOD, there are also hidden costs that need to be evaluated. “If you’re evaluating a standalone BYOD program, there are some challenges that include device standardization for support, network connectivity service and control,” says Light. “Another challenge is to specify the types of approved devices, or the ability to deploy custom applications down the road can be very difficult and costly.”

Despite the additional costs that BYOD may bring to the table, companies like San Jamar Chef Revival are undeterred. “The idea that people have to carry two devices around —one personal and one business — became a pressure point in our organization,” says Demco. “So we headed down that path, and that’s where BYOD became a priority for us.”

To manage the influx of individually-owned devices, the company is utilizing an MDM. “MDM will allow us the comfort level to be able to corporately manage the iPads that are proliferating throughout the organization,” says Demco. “Filtering usage on the devices and being able to manage security is important to us. If a device is lost or stolen, it gives us the ability to clean these devices quickly.”

Demco expects to see costs go down as a result of BYOD and MDM. “There’s going to be a corporate footprint on each device that we’re going to manage from a software perspective as opposed to managing the device itself,” he explains. “If there’s an issue with the device, employees have to go to their own provider. So I expect the cost to support the devices will go down.”

Within the next two to three months, Demco plans to take on another 40 to 45 devices. And using MEM tools, he anticipates savings. His advice to enterprises saddled with rising wireless data expenses: Don’t ignore the problem. “If it feels like you can’t get control of it, you probably don’t have control of it,” he warns. “It’s worth partnering with someone who understands the landscape of how to work with the carriers. There’s dollars that will just sneak out of the door without someone looking at the bills on a monthly basis.”

MeM NowThe number of devices in the enterprise is only growing, so now is the time to get a handle on their mobile expenditures. In addition to monitoring usage, enterprises need to educate their mobile workers and enforce wireless data policies to ensure that the entire organization is contributing to cost-containment measures.

Whether a company is introducing new apps, implementing a BYOD policy or growing its mobile workforce, real-time mobile expense management is key to controlling wireless data costs. l

T A K E A W A Y

Retaining liability for the carrier service in a BYOD program can help corporations control mobile expenses.

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Based outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, OVATION is a privately held company providing global enterprise

managed mobility solutions. More than 100 enterprises rely on OVATION’s more than 300 years of direct

wireless experience to manage, secure and support their mobile connected devices and employees. OVATION

provides comprehensive managed mobility solutions, including procurement services, wireless expense

optimization, real-time optimization, mobile asset management, mobile device management and mobile

end-user support.

OVATION receives no compensation from any wireless provider and is completely unbiased with regard to its

consultative approach and recommendations to its clients.

www.ovationwireless.com

ME_TL_1012.indd 9 12/13/12 12:25 PM

mobile expense management - visibility for the enterprise and the user

Documents

wireless data expenses

wireless data expenditures

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wireless data costs

wireless data feeding

director of wireless

wireless spectrum

pm mobile data consumption